AG#52 - Joseph Porter

[Lugsy]

I've been brewing a lot of highly carbonated beers recently so my pressure barrels are feeling a bit left out. As winter is fast approaching I decided I need some seasonal beers and I realised I've never brewed a porter! This recipe got thrown together last night:

Malts:
Pale Malt (Dingemans) 4000g 74.8%
Brown Malt (Fawcetts) 500g 9.4%
Amber Malt (Fawcetts) 500g 9.4%
Special B (Dingemans) 200g 3.7%
Pale Chocolate Malt (Fawcetts) 100g 1.8%
Black Malt (Fawcetts) 50g 0.9%

Hops:
Northern Brewer 9.2% AA 27g 60 minutes
Northern Brewer 9.2% AA 20g 30 minutes

Yeast:
S-04

Specs:
Brewlength 23l
OG 1.054
FG 1.014
5.2% ABV
Colour 105 EBC
Bitterness 28 EBU

Mashed at 68C for a fuller body, this is all about the malts. I've heard great things about the Dingemans pale malt, this will be my first outing with it so I thought I'd use Special B in place of crystal to carry on the Belgian theme. I was going to use Willamette hops but I realised that I used them up in the stout the other week, Northern Brewer are the only other English hops I have in stock so hopefully they'll work out OK - they're mostly there for the bittering anyway so I think I'll get away with it.

I'm about 10 minutes from the end of the boil so the protofloc is going in now. The cooling should be pretty quick as it's bloody cold over here today, should be all wrapped up in just over an hour

[WishboneBrewery]

Bound to be a tasty Porter with Kraft Cheese in it Bell End Brie! (From a poem Lugsy linked me on Youtube)
I actually did a bit of sorting my bottles out yesterday, I think I've got about 6 for you when swap time comes.

[barney]

Ah........ the dark side!

Looks a tasty brew.

[Lugsy]

Cheers Barney!

pdtnc - nice one! I've got you four at the moment with another couple to be bottled soon

I collected 22 litres at 1.053 in the end so I'm happy with that, the yeast is going well this morning so it's all good!

And just in case anyone's wondering what the hell pdtnc is on about, this beer is named after this classic by punk poet Attila the Stockbroker - although hopefully mine will have a lower cheese content

[Lugsy]

So, this seems to have finished a little higher than I'd anticipated at 1.018. I was a bit slack with the temperature control and it spent its first few days at 17C, I raised it to 20C and roused it a couple of times to no effect. It's a bit sweeter than I'd have liked but it's pretty tasty so I'll be kegging it at the weekend with light priming. Next time I'll mash a couple of degrees lower and keep an eye on the fermenting temperature

[seymour]

Sounds good. You could also continue the Belgian theme with a Trappist yeast which will attenuate further. Of course, that'll defeat your true-to-style English Porter aim. Sounds like a tasty, full-bodied session beer as is! Just call it a Barney-style Strong Mild

[WishboneBrewery]

My smokey brew seems to have finished high at about 1022, it still tastes good and I'm sure with a little carbonation it will crispen up, I've also warmed up, and I'll give it a good rouse tomorrow and a few more days just to see if it will drop a bit more.

[Lugsy]

I take it all back - when I brew this again I don't think I'll change a thing. I kegged it today and drew a half pint off it to see how it's going, I'm stunned! Full bodied and creamy with chocolate and coffee flavours, a nice gentle bitterness and not too sweet at all. I'm not sure that it's a porter though, I think it's more of a strong mild as seymour suggested. Whatever it is, I'm extremely happy with it!

This is the first time I've used Dingemans pale malt and it's superb, loads more flavour than the English pale malts I've tried - I recommend you give it a go just to see the difference.

Right, I'm off for another pint in front of the fire - time to break out the dimple pint pot for this one